1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to web-browsers, and more particularly, to a web browser that automatically checks availability of hot links on a displayed web page.
2. Description of Related Art
In the course of accessing information by means of a web browser from a network, such as the Internet or a company or office intra-net, a user often finds a web page at a particular URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address that contains information the user would like to access. The web page typically contains several links to a variety of other web pages on its serving equipment or on the serving equipment that presents these other web pages.
Often, a user desires to visit certain ones of these other web pages. In so doing, the user currently must manually move the cursor over and click on the desired link or URL displayed on the viewed web page. However, when a user clicks on these links, the user cannot pre-determine the success rate at which the web browser will be able to retrieve and visually display these desired web pages to the user. After the user has manually clicked on the link to the desired web page, the web browser then tries to retrieve the desired linked web page and visually display this desired web page to the user. In the prior art, the retrieved results of this request by the user would include the user being presented with the desired web page, a “page not found message” from the proxy server, or a long delay or wait period that indicates the web browser is not successfully retrieving the content which resides on the web server that the link refers to and that is to produce the desired web page.
Other known processes and systems for determining the success rate at which a user will be able to link to a desired web page include those that use search requests, such as, searching content on web pages, validating stored bookmarks, and usage of historical data access through a proxy server. However, these processes and systems for determining the success rate at which a user may link to a desired web page are tedious, time consuming, inefficient or are still being dependent on manual input of the user for process initiation.
Accordingly, there is need in the art for a process and system that enables a user to quickly and easily visually pre-determine the success rate at which the user will be able to link to and view a desired web page.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process and system that enables a user to quickly and easily visually pre-determine the success rate at which the user will be able to successfully link to and view a desired web page.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the availability status of all hot links on a currently viewed web page.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the availability status of all hot links that should exist on a particular server complex with a single request rather than a number of requests for each individual hot link as in the prior art.
A further object of the invention is to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the availability status of all hot links on a currently viewed web page resulting in reduced network congestion.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the availability status of a hot link(s) which is not dependent on manual input of the user for process initiation.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.